1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of producing a reinforced ceramic as a strength-required structural member.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There has been known a ceramic fiber reinforced ceramic in which ceramic fibers are integrally buried in a ceramic sintered body. As a method of producing this type of the reinforced ceramic, it has been reported to produce a fiber reinforced ceramic pipe by weaving ceramic fibers in a tubular form, and depositing ceramic fine powder on a surface of the tubular ceramic, and burying a gap between the fibers by a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. The above-mentioned CVD method is very poor in productivity and difficult in mass production. Also, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 54679/1984 discloses a method of producing a reinforced ceramic by growing a whisker in ceramic powder and sintering the composite of the whisker thus obtained and the ceramic powder by a hot press or a hot isostatic press, thereby producing a reinforced ceramic in which a whisker is dispersed and buried in a sintered body. Also, the method of forming a whisker in the ceramic powder restricts a combination of ceramic powder and a ceramic fiber and has difficulty in manufacturing long whiskers of more than 10 .mu.m in length.